


Stronger Than Ice

by thelittlestbird



Series: Stronger than Ice [3]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV), Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Gen, Stealth Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 16:04:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3416909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelittlestbird/pseuds/thelittlestbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Catelyn Stark tells her daughters a bedtime story about sisterly love, and hopes that they remember.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stronger Than Ice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chavalah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chavalah/gifts).



It had not been a good day.

Arya and Sansa had been quarreling almost since dawn. Arya had stolen one of Sansa’s new hair-ribbons to use in some sort of rowdy game, Sansa had pulled Arya’s hair, Arya had slapped Sansa, and they’d both cried like babies, not like the big girls of six and nine that they were.

Now it was evening, and they were tucked away in their bedchamber, and Catelyn knew that she must do _something_ so that this day would not end as badly as it had begun.

She found Sansa primly sewing and pretending that she hadn’t been crying, and Arya buried under a pile of fur blankets pretending that she hadn’t been crying, and both determinedly not looking at each other.

Sansa was the first to talk: at the first sight of Catelyn, she recited obediently, “Good night, Mother.”

Catelyn smiled, and smoothed down Sansa’s hair. “Good night, darlings.” She included both of them, even though Arya was little more than a silent sulky lump. “Before bedtime, would you like a story?”

Sansa’s pink-rimmed eyes brightened a little, as Catelyn had known they would. Songs, sewing, stories, sweet cakes and pretty things – those were what Sansa loved best. So easy to understand, so easy to make smile; not at all like the prickly puzzle that was Arya. 

How could Catelyn get them to see what they shared, when she could barely see their common bonds herself?

Catelyn settled down on a chair, and began. “Once upon a time...” She paused, glanced at her two daughters, and knew what story she needed to tell tonight. One she remembered from her own mother and her own childhood, from the days when she and Lysa had squabbled with each other. “Once upon a time, there were two princesses. They were both beautiful and kind and intelligent,” Catelyn continued. “And they loved each other very much.”

“Could they fight with swords?” Arya interrupted, her head poking out from the covers like a little turtle peeping out of its shell. 

Catelyn hated to give in to any unladylike impulses…but she saw the first glimmer of a smile that she’d seen on Arya’s long face all day. How could she say no to something that made her daughter light up like that? “Yes,” Catelyn sighed. “The younger one could.” And then, because she knew it would make Arya smile even more, “She could fight better than the prince.” 

“She taught the prince to fight!” Arya was getting carried away now. “And she went on all kinds of adventures, and sailed on a pirate ship!”

“They didn’t both do that, did they?” Sansa’s eyes were wide with fear. In her stories, pirates and battles did not mean happy things.

“Only the younger one,” Catelyn decided quickly, and Sansa’s expression eased into relief. “But that’s a story for another day. This is the story of how they saved each other.

“Into the princesses’ realm,” she continued, “came an evil witch from the far north, beyond the Wall where it is always winter. She pretended to be friends with the princesses, but in truth, she was only there to turn them against each other.”

Catelyn glanced over at her daughters, searching their expressions. Did they understand what she was trying to do? No, she didn’t think so. Arya was impatient for more witches and pirates; Sansa was so trusting that she heard nothing but the truth in whatever she was being told. Well, perhaps someday they would both remember the story and hear something more in it.

“The younger princess was the only one who realized what the evil witch was doing, and she tried to stop her. So the witch cast two terrible spells. The first one made the girls see only the worst in each other. It shattered the love that they had for each other, and made the younger princess think that her older sister had done terrible things. And so she trapped her older sister in a magical urn that sent her to a strange land, far away. And when that was done, the witch cast the second spell to freeze the younger princess in ice so that she could not save her sister.

“When the first spell wore off, the older princess woke up. She didn’t know that it was her sister who had sent her away, and didn’t know that the witch had frozen her sister in ice. Some things, magic can make you forget, but not everything. Not love. She remembered her love for her sister, and wanted nothing more than to find her. So she traveled through the strange new land with a heavy heart, searching everywhere.

“Then the ice-spell wore off, and the younger sister woke up. She didn’t know that she had sent her sister away to another land – all she knew was that her sister was gone, and she wanted her back. She traveled far and wide looking for her, asking everyone she met for help. Even the pirates,” she added, drawing another grin from Arya. “And she never lost faith that she would find her sister. Their love was stronger than any wall of ice, and more powerful than any spell.”

“How did they find each other?” Sansa asked.

“Did the pirates help? Or magic?” Arya was sitting up now, and the look of eager interest in her eyes was almost a perfect match for Sansa’s. Even if they shared nothing else at the moment, Catelyn had gotten both girls to share an interest in the same story. It was something.

“In the end, the older princess found a magic necklace that would grant her any wish – and she wished for her sister to be there with her once more. And so they were together, and lived happily ever after.”

“What happened to the ice witch? And the pirates?” Arya asked.

Catelyn smiled at her daughters, full of love for them both. “That’s a story for another day.”

**Author's Note:**

> Stealth crossover! When you requested both Game of Thrones and Once Upon A Time, I realized just how well the Frozen storyline fit. It actually fit so well that I almost worried that it would be a little too on-the-nose! But I hope that you enjoyed it, and that you've enjoyed your little basket of linked Purimgifts fics. 
> 
> And here's one last picture for you, too: 
> 
> Chag Purim sameach!


End file.
